2023 CSAT — Q63

Locate. On a four-statement valid-assumption question, fix the passage’s actual content. This passage is about pharmaceutical patents: patentees set prices during the monopoly term; those prices “could be unaffordable to the public”; patent protection is believed to benefit the public long-term via R&D, “although it comes at a cost” of higher prices; the regime gives the patentee “a legitimate mechanism to get returns” on innovation. The tension is affordability for the public vs returns for the innovator — and nothing else.

Test (run the actor/entity check first — it does the work here). Statement 1 — “patent protection burdens the public’s purchasing power”: restates “unaffordable to the public” + “higher prices for the patented medicine.” Same entities (patentees, public, price), same mechanism. VALID. Statement 4 — “government must balance patentees’ rights and patients’ requirements”: this is the passage’s own tension (legitimate returns vs affordability), fairly attributed to a policy actor. VALID. Statement 2 — “dependence on other countries… burden for developing and poor countries”: neither other-country dependence nor poor/developing countries appears anywhere — an actor the passage never names. INVALID. Statement 3 — “key goal during public-health policy design in many countries”: neither policy-design nor “many countries” is in the passage — again, an actor/scope the passage never names. INVALID.

Eliminate by anatomy. Options containing 2 (a, d) or 3 (c, d) bring in something the passage doesn’t — globally true pharma-policy claims that this single passage never makes. Strip every option with an added entity and only “1 and 4” survives. The transferable rule: a tightly scoped passage assumes only within its own actors; a statement that widens the frame to “other countries / many countries / poor countries” has left the text. Key: (b).

Statement 1 — “The patentees enjoy the liberty to determine the prices of medicines… but could be unaffordable to the public” and “higher prices for the patented medicine” → patent protection burdens the public’s purchasing power: VALID (direct restatement, same entities/mechanism). Statement 4 — the passage’s frame is a legitimate mechanism for patentees to recoup R&D costs versus prices the public may not afford, i.e. a balance government must strike: VALID (fair inference of the passage’s own tension). Statement 2 crosses the ENTITY boundary — “other countries,” “developing and poor countries” are nowhere in the passage → INVALID. Statement 3 crosses the ENTITY boundary — “public health policy design,” “many countries” are nowhere in the passage → INVALID. Valid = 1 and 4 → (b).

The passage: patentees price patented medicines during the monopoly, possibly unaffordably; the regime is defended as a legitimate way to recoup R&D, at the cost of higher prices.

• Statement 1 — patent protection burdens public purchasing power. Restates “could be unaffordable to the public” and “higher prices.” Valid.
• Statement 2 — dependence on other countries burdens developing/poor countries. No other-country dependence, no poor/developing countries in the passage. Invalid (adds entity).
• Statement 3 — affordable medicine is a key goal in public-health policy design in many countries. No policy-design, no “many countries.” Invalid (adds entity).
• Statement 4 — governments must balance patentees’ rights and patients’ needs. The passage’s own tension between returns-on-R&D and affordability. Valid.

Valid = 1 and 4. Answer: (b) 1 and 4.

The two invalid statements are both true things about pharmaceutical policy in general — dependence on imports burdens poor countries; affordability is a real policy goal worldwide. That is exactly why they trap: the aspirant who reasons from what they know about global health policy waves them in. The passage, though, is narrow — it talks only about the patentee, the public, prices, and the R&D-vs-affordability balance. The entity boundary is the scalpel: point to the passage word for “other countries” or “many countries” and there is none. Valid = the two statements (1, 4) that stay inside that narrow frame. Answer (b).